POETIC JUSTICE AND THE RIDDLE OF HOMERS DEATH

According to ancient biographies, the death of the poet Homer came at the 
hands of young boys who had been fishing. They posed a riddle he could not 
solve, and, true to the warning of the Delphic Oracle, he slipped in the 
mud and died soon afterward. The irony of Homers death is that throughout 
his epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, young boys are portrayed as mainly 
weak and foolish.

Daniel Levine, a professor of classics in the Fulbright College department 
of foreign languages, examines the influences on the several stories of 
Homers death in his recent article, "Poetic Justice: Homer's Death in the 
Ancient Biographical Tradition," appearing in The Classical Journal 
published by the University of Colorado in Boulder.

In the Hellenistic and Roman periods, there was immense interest in 
biographical details concerning the poet Homer. No fewer than ten "Lives" 
of the poet still exist from late antiquity. In his study, Levine examines 
several possible influences on the biographical story of Homer's death, 
particularly noting that those asking the riddle are mere untutored 
youths. Such background material is to be found both within the epics 
themselves and other ancient traditions independent of the poems.

"I suggest that that Homer's ancient biographies present his death as a 
sort of poetic justice  young men deceive the old poet whose verses had 
emphasized their faults. He could not solve the fisher boys' riddle, and 
thus loses his final contest. He meets his end on the beach  where 
fishermen empty their nets and their catch breathes its last. Like that of 
his Odysseus, Homer's death comes from the sea," said Levine.

The riddle was this: Homer asks the fisher boys what they caught, and they 
say, "What we caught we left behind; what we did not catch we brought with 
us." What did they mean? If you think you know the answer, contact Dr. 
Levine at 575-2951 or by e-mail, dlevine@uark.edu.